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Barack Obama has flip-flopped on yet another campaign promise, according to Politico. The President-Elect campaigned against the Bush executive order barring federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells and said he would reverse it once elected. Now he has backed away from that pledge and is pulling a CYA — shifting the burden to Congress to change the policy.

Politico quotes a recent CNN interview where Obama said the following:

Well, if we can do something legislative then I usually prefer a legislative process because those are the people’s representatives. And I think that on embryonic stem cell research, the fact that you have a bipartisan support around that issue, the fact that you have Republicans like Orrin Hatch who are fierce opponents of abortion and yet recognize that there is a moral and ethical mechanism to ensure that people with Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s can actually find potentially some hope out there, you know, I think that sends a powerful message…So we’re still examining what things we’ll do through executive order…But I like the idea of the American people’s representatives expressing their views on an issue like this.

I’m very disappointed but not surprised by Obama’s latest remarks. The pace of discovery of future cures for the most devastating diseases relies on policy change and investment in research. Hopefully Obama will reconsider and restore the faith in all of us.

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Chade-Meng Tan speaks of everyday compassion at Google which he calls “Search Inside Yourself.” According to Meng compassion works in 3 steps: attention training, self-knowledge and spreading happiness.